Powered by a third-party adapter (the unit comes with either a Visual Sound One Spot or a Godlyke Power Adapter), the Replay Jr. uses a 12AX7HG tube that sits centered in the pedal’s face under a recessed piece of hard glass. The tube, which receives 300 volts DC for maximum tone and dynamics, is always active—even when the delay is bypassed. This allows the Replay Jr. to do double duty as an added tube stage for your setup. It’s a welcome feature that is unique to this pedal in this roundup.

On the bottom right of the unit is the Tap Tempo footswitch, which is activated when you pull up the Delay knob. Total available delay time is 1,000ms in either the manual or tap modes. To the left is the Echo Mute switch, which turns the delay on or off. A blue LED (labeled Echo Off) illuminates when the delay is activated.

On the top left sits the Delay (time) knob, along with controls for Repeats (feedback) and Fidelity. The latter is designed to roll off highs on the delayed signal to more closely replicate the sound of analog delay. I found its effect to be fairly subtle: You don’t hear much of a difference in the initial delay, although the treble roll off becomes more noticeable in subsequent repeats, which is a signature of analog delay.

On the other side of the pedal are three more controls: Echo Level, Wow, and Flutter. The latter two are used to adjust the modulation, and they can have a very pronounced effect, giving a warbly, tape-like vibe to the delays when set relatively high. I particularly liked the response with the Flutter control at about two or three o’clock and the Wow at about nine or ten o’clock. At these settings, the delayed notes had the texture of tape-style modulation, yet still sounded nicely in tune.

In addition to its many features, I really appreciate the implementation of the Replay Jr.’s tube circuitry, which adds pleasing warmth and character to the sound, even when the delay is bypassed. It’s definitely a plus for delay users who revel in real tube tone.

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